Building California

By Cliff Potts
Bay Bay City, Leyte, Philippines — April 9, 2026

This is a serialized installment from the autobiography of Cliff Potts.

A State Under Construction

The California of the late 1950s was not the polished image it later became. It was being built — graded, blasted, and engineered into modern form. Subdivisions replaced farmland. Highways cut through mountains. Entire water systems were designed to reshape population growth.

The California Aqueduct

One of the largest undertakings of the era was the California Aqueduct system, created to move water from northern reservoirs to the dry and expanding south. Canals were dug across valleys and deserts. Pumping stations operated continuously. When hydraulic systems failed, the work stopped.

The machinery was large and constant. Breakdowns were inevitable.

My Father’s Trade

My father was a heavy equipment mechanic specializing in hydraulics and automatic transmissions in earth-moving machinery. Cars held no interest for him. He worked on dozers, scrapers, loaders — machines built to move land itself.

Somewhere among my belongings is his old Caterpillar key, a universal starter used across much of the equipment on those sites. It was not a symbol of authority. It was a symbol of competence. He needed to move a machine before he could repair it.

The Grapevine and Interstate 5

Another major project involved the early carving of the Grapevine and what became Interstate 5. Mountain terrain had to be cut, blasted, stabilized, and graded into something that could carry continuous traffic. Engines overheated. Hydraulics failed. Equipment required constant maintenance.

That was his environment. When machinery stopped, someone like him was called to bring it back to life.